Originally posted by (naploean @ April 18 2005,05:36)
According to books such as The Third Sex, by Richard Totman, which I would reccommend you read by the way, ladyboys believe that they are pre-destined to be such due to negative kamma from a previous life. There is more to it in that book, but in a nutshell, that is basically it. There is no choice, such as them saying one day: Gee whiz, I think I'll become a ladyboy, any more than one decides to be a man or woman. Also in contrast to the Christian Old Testament, The Tipitaka indentifies not two gender types, male and female, but four. The four genders are male, female, ubhatobyanjanaka and pandaka. Basically, the Pali-English dictionary defines ubhatobyanjanaka as a 'having the characteristics of both sexes, i.e. a hermaphrodite. Whereas a pandaka is 'a person who has deficiency in the signs of masculinity (for men) and signs of femininitity (for women)' and 'a person who takes pleasure in having relations with a man while feeling they are like a woman' (Thai language summary of the Tipitaka). The last definition equates pandaka with kathoey, which is one of the Thai words for ladyboy, along with 'sau praphet song' which means 'second kind of woman'
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